Sewer line break restricts Front Street

By David Skolnick

The city is replacing an old brick sewer line.

YOUNGSTOWN —¬†A downtown sewer line collapse has spread far enough to reduce traffic on a portion of West Front Street to one line with the closing of the busy street a possibility.

The city reduced traffic on Front Street at South Phelps Street on Monday.

The repair could take up to a week, said Charles Shasho, the city public works department’s deputy director.

Depending on the condition of the 110-year-old brick sanitary and storm sewer line, the city may have to shut down that portion of West Front Street to finish the job, he said. The work includes replacing the 36-inch brick line with a 30-inch plastic line.

“It’s truly an unknown,” Shasho said about closing West Front Street. “We’ll have to access it as [the project] goes.”

Utility Contracting, a Youngstown company, is doing the repair work.

The brick line along South Phelps Street — between West Federal and West Boardman streets, next to city hall — collapsed in late October.

The problem was discovered when sanitary and storm water backed up on to the street.

The mortar on the old line deteriorated, causing a larger crack when crews repaired the initial break by West Federal Street, Shasho said.

The break forced the city to close that portion of South Phelps for about a month as well as a small portion of West Federal Street for a few weeks.

The city paid $137,238 to Utility Contracting for that work, which included replacing the brick pipe with a plastic line.

But problems with the old brick line weren’t over.

Sewage backed up at city hall in early February because the South Phelps brick line between West Boardman and West Front streets broke.

That portion of South Phelps has been closed since then.

The cost of this second replacement project isn’t known, but it will be more than $100,000, according to Shasho.

skolnick@vindy.com